I. Affairs of the Company.
The new purchases of land round our little museum at Sheffield have been made at rather under than over the market price of land in the district; and they will enable me, as I get more funds, to extend the rooms of the museum under skylight as far as I wish. I did not want to buy so soon; but Fors giving me the opportunity, I must take it at her hand. Our cash accounts will in future be drawn up, as below, by our Companion, Mr. Rydings, to whom all questions, corrections, etc., are to be sent, and all subscriptions under fifty pounds.
[For Cash Account, see next page (230).]
The following letter from Messrs. Tarrant will be seen to be in reply to mine of the 6th June, printed in last Fors. From the tone of it, as well as from careful examination of my legal friends, I perceive that it is out of my power to give the Company a legal status, according to the present law of England, unless it be permitted to gather dividends for itself, instead of store for the nation, and to put its affairs in the hands of a number of persons who know nothing about them, instead of in the hands of one person who is acquainted with them.
Under these circumstances, I consider it to be best that the Companions should settle their own legal status with the lawyers; and this the more, as I do not choose to run the Society into farther expense by the continuance of correspondence between these legal gentlemen and me, without the slightest chance of [[231]]either party ever understanding the other. Accordingly, I hereby authorize Mr. Robert Somervell, of Hazelthwaite, Windermere, to collect the opinions of the other Companions, (a list of whom I have put in his hands,) and to act in their name, as they shall direct him, respecting the tenure of the Company’s lands and property, now and in future. And I hereby hold myself quit of all responsibility touching such tenure, maintaining simply the right of the Master of the Company to direct their current expenditures. [[230]]
CASH ACCOUNT OF ST. GEORGE’S COMPANY (From March 15th to June 15th, 1876).
| Dr. | Cr. | ||||||||
| 1876. | £ | s. | d. | 1876. | £ | s. | d. | ||
| March 15. | To Balance at Union Bank, London (see April Fors, p. 128) | 157 | 11 | 10 | April 17. | By Benjamin Bradshawe (advance on new purchase of land at Sheffield) | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| To,, Balance in Mr. Ruskin’s hand (see May Fors, p. 169) | 107 | 16 | 5 | 23. | By,, Theodore D. Acland (expenses of chemicals for Sheffield Museum) | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| March | To,, F. D. Drewitt (tithe of first earning) | 1 | 4 | 1 | May 7. | By,, Henry Swan (Salary and Expenses at Museum) | 55 | 15 | 3 |
| To,, Miss M. Guest | 2 | 2 | 0 | 23. | By,, Mrs. Talbot (repairing expenses on our cottages at Barmouth, with other expensesfor educational purposes, afterwards to be explained) | ||||
| April | To,, James Burdon (tithe of wage) | 2 | 10 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 0 | ||
| To,, Wm. B. Graham (gift) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 26. | By,, Benjamin Bagshawe (on completion of purchase at Sheffield) | 300 | 0 | 0 | |
| To,, Anon., post stamp, Birkenhead | 1 | 10 | 0 | ||||||
| April 16 | To,, Egbert Rydings | 25 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| To,, Miss S. Beever | 7 | 0 | 6 | ||||||
| To,, Anon. (tithe gift for half-year 1876) | 50 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| To,, Rev. R. St. J. Tyrwhitt | 20 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| To,, No. 50, G. | 10 | 10 | 0 | ||||||
| June 16 | To,, Balance due to Mr. Ruskin | 31 | 10 | 5 | |||||
| £417 | 15 | 3 | £417 | 15 | 3 | ||||
[[231]]
“Re ST. GEORGE’S COMPANY.
“2, Bond Court, Walbrook, London,
“31st May, 1876.“Dear Sir,—We have carefully considered the points raised in your letter to us of the 6th inst., and have also consulted Mr. Barber upon them, and with reference thereto we advise you that the law stands shortly thus:—by the 13th Eliz., c. 5, a voluntary settlement of real or personal estate will be void and may be set aside by a creditor of the settlor, upon his showing an intent on the part of the settlor to defraud his creditors; and such an intent may be inferred from the circumstances. The Bankruptcy Act 1869 (32 and 33 Vict., c. 71) contains a still more stringent provision where the voluntary settlor is a trader. These are liabilities and risks which your association cannot avoid; but they are more imaginary than real, as the donors of land to the Company are not likely to make a voluntary gift for the purpose of defeating their creditors. By the 27th Eliz., c. 4, a voluntary gift or settlement of real estate, unless it be in favour of a charity, will be avoided by a subsequent bonâ fide sale for value, even though the purchaser have notice of the voluntary settlement. This, too, is an ordinary risk from which you cannot escape, unless you are willing to submit to the jurisdiction of the Charity Commissioners. It does not often happen that a person who has made a voluntary [[232]]settlement of real estate seeks to stultify his own act by a subsequent sale of the same estate, but the payment of a small consideration, or even matter ex post facto, would prevent the deed being voluntary, and the risk is not a very serious one.
“We do not recollect Mr. Baker’s name, and we find no mention of it in any of your letters to us: we think you must have meant Mr. Talbot, with whose solicitors we were in communication as to some cottages and land, and it was arranged that that matter should stand over until the St. George’s Company was constituted.
“As to the writing out of the memorandum and rules for signature of the Companions—the case is this: you receive donations from people who give them to you on the faith of a certain scheme of yours being duly carried out; it is therefore necessary that the leading features of that scheme should be reduced to writing, in order that there may be no misunderstanding between the givers and receivers of these donations as to the objects to which they are devoted. The signatures of the Companions are a feature of your published scheme, and in addition will be useful to show who are the acknowledged Companions having a direct interest in it—the right to elect and control the action of the Master, elect Trustees, etc., etc.; and the signatures will be the evidence of the deliberate submission of the Companions to be bound by the rules to which they subscribe their names.
“But all this will not make the St. George’s Company other than a voluntary association of persons which the law will not recognize as a corporation.
“The Companions of St. George will be capable of holding land, but not as the St. George’s Company,—that is, not as a corporation. Land must be held by or for them as individuals. You may have a piece of land conveyed to, say two hundred Companions; naming each of them; but for the sake of convenience [[233]]you would have it conveyed to two or three who should hold it upon trust for the Companions generally.
“You can only obtain the countenance and supervision of the law for your Company on certain conditions, and when you came to us we were careful to explain this to you. You at once told us the conditions would not do for your Company, therefore we have had to do the best we could for you, treating your Company as an association without the countenance and supervision of the law.
“Forgive us for quoting from a letter of yours to us of the 27th May, 1875. ‘Mr. Barber’s notion is the popular one of a Mob of Directors. But St. George’s Company must have only one Master. They may dismiss him at their pleasure, but they must not bother him. I am going to draw up a form myself, and submit it to Mr. Barber for criticism and completion.’ We think you may rest satisfied with matters as they are.
“We remain, dear Sir,
“Yours very truly,
“Tarrant & Mackrell.“John Ruskin, Esq.
“Brantwood, Coniston, Lancashire.”
II. Affairs of the Master.